2006 Peter R. Lyman Award – Mithun Mukherjee

April 30th, 2006 Mithun Mukherjee Posted in Awards | Comments »

2006 Lyman Award
Presented at the SquashRochester End-of-Year Awards Event April 29, 2006 by Bob Good

The Peter R. Lyman award is now close to 30 years old. As most of you know, Peter Lyman has a long history in both squash and tennis here in Rochester. He was a national champ in his age groups many times over the years and coached both sports at the U. of R. for many years. In the mid seventies the award was initiated by two of his former players, Dave and Richie Perlman, and who played for him and Spike Gonzales a long time player here at Midtown. Peter coached both of the Perlman brothers at UR in both squash and tennis between 1964 and 1970, and they were the captains of his teams.

These three players wanted to recognize individuals who, over several years, had demonstrated three qualities:
* Sportsmanship on the court and off,
* Dedication to improving his or her own game, and
* A significant contribution to the organization and development of squash in the Rochester area.

The many past winners of this award have done so much for squash here in Rochester. Fred Weymuller, Eric Hernady, Rishad Pandole, Don Andrews, Chip Nimick, Paul Brogna, Herb Barbehenn and many others. Last year I was honored to be included in this company.

This year’s Peter Lyman winner personifies this tradition of sportsmanship, improvement, and contribution. In fact, if we were to add a criterion of enthusiasm for the sport, then this award would have to be renamed in his honor instead being called the Lyman award.

He is relatively new to the squash community here in Rochester, but has been involved at every level that he could be right from the very beginning. He arrived in Rochester around the same time as our first pro tournament and he immediately began volunteering for everything that he could to help make the first Rochester Pro Tournament a complete success.

I first got a taste of this unbridled enthusiasm at this same time when I got an email from our honoree saying that he wanted to join our Med Center box league. Well, I signed him up and he started playing. It was only after several weeks that I discovered out that he was not affiliated with the UR in any way and was not even eligible to be a member of our club!!! Somehow he kept finding ways to get in touch with his opponents and getting into the club as a guest to get his matches played. I regretted that I had to contact him and tell him that he could no longer be a part of our Med Center community. Luckily for us, he later got a job at the University and is now one of the most ubiquitous figures around our courts.

It wasn’t long after that that he joined the board and has been active citywide and region-wide in promoting squash however he can. He helps organize tournaments, he participates in tournaments, he writes about and photographs tournaments and any other squash activity.

In a way I feel that I am sandwiched between two Lyman winners who represent the changing technology of these times. Last year’s honoree, Lisa Slater, was the editor-in-chief of the last of the printed Boast, our RSRA newsletter. This year’s honoree has taken the Boast and transformed it into the new world of electronic media and is one of the driving forces behind SquashRochester.org.

He hails from the town of Pune, India, about three hours south of Bombay. India has a rich tradition of squash over these past many decades and has contributed much to the realm of squash all over the world. Our honoree this year brings that history of squash with him as he has come to Rochester to join us and to bring his many talents and his unbridled enthusiasm here to our community.

Please join me in welcoming the 2006 Peter Lyman Award winner, Mithun Mukherjee.